Tidball - Who Are The Evangelicals?

Front 1

Tidball (Who)

Back 1

British theologian, sociologist of religion and Baptist minister. From 1995 to 2007 he was the principal of London Bible College which later took the name London School of Theology.

Front 2

Tidball Thesis

Back 2

The influence of late 20th C. evangelicalism will remain as evangelicals continue to embrace both the diversity/flexibility of evangelical expression (church, spirituality, and world) and unity of evangelical theological conviction (Bible, substitutionary atonement, conversion, last things, church, social action, and spirituality) characteristic of their heritage.

[This thesis locates E. identity in theology, almost wholly distinct from culture and social circumstance.]

Front 3

Tidball (Evangelical Distinctives)

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Bebbington's Quadrilateral

1. Biblicism
2. Conversionism
3. Crucicentrism
4. Activism

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Evangelicals vs. Fundamentalists (Tidball)

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All fundamentalists are evangelical; not all evangelicals are fundamentalists. F. are militancy group. Its name derived from The Fundamentals publication.

Differences
1. F. are suspicious of scholarship. E. are open to scholarship.
2. F. believe in dictation inspiration. E. believe in human/culture influence of inspiration.
3. F. revere the Authorized Version and mistrust other translations. E. are open to many translations of Bible.
4. F. interpret the Bible literally. E. are open to exploring many factors—language, culture, genre—that affect interpretation.
5. F. believe in a separated church and reject ecumenism. E. are open to other Christian and are usually involved in ecumenism.
6. F. allow their belief to be uncritically influenced by their culture. E. are influence by culture, but seek to critical of it too.
7. F. are aligned to right-wing politics and indifferent to social evile. E. are diverse politically and have a greater sensitivity to social evils.
8. F. insist on premillennialism. E. hold a multiplicity of views about Christ’s second coming.

Tidball is concerned with distinguishing E. from F. Fundamentalism was a social movement born in the early 20th C. in response to modernism (67).

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General Variety within Evangelicalism (Tidball)

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Church (established, denominational, Pentecostal, new/restorationism, ethnic, separatist/independent),

Spirituality (reformed, holiness, Pentecostal, renewal, radical), and

The relationship of Christians to the world (introversionists, conversionists, thaumaturgical (miraculous), reformist, transformationalist).

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Bible (Tidball)

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E. believe in the inspiration and authority of the Bible, but hold a variety of views on how inspiration occurred and how that influences the infallibility or the inerrancy of the Bible. Biblical criticism produced doctrine of inerrancy. After a period of differing opinion on criticism, E. generally see the value in it.

Binding convictions of the Bible:
1. Special revelation is necessary for true knowledge of God.
2. The bible is the supreme and only sufficient locus of such revelation.
3. The Bible is the inspired Word of God.

E. Principles of Interpretation:
1. Natural meaning of words in historical, literary and culture context is crucial for understanding
2. Author’s purpose is determinative of meaning
3. Scripture interprets Scripture with obscure passages
4. Coherence of Scripture is unified and coherent in Christ
5. Dependence on the Holy Spirit in interpretation
6. Seek application of text for today.
7. Must respond in obedience to the Scripture.

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Atonement (Tidball)

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E. confess substitutionary atonement.

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Conversion (Tiball)

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Conversion unifies evangelicals. C. is turning from sin in repentance and to God in faith. C. is act of human will—human’s participation in salvation. C. occurs through preaching and evangelism. Challenges to conversion: baptism, evidence of social action, nature of repentance, and pluralism.

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Second Coming (Tidball)

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E. agree that Christ’s “return will be personal, visible, sudden, unexpected, glorious and triumphant. Views on the millennium and hell represent divergent views on last things.

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Church (Tidball)

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Variety exists on church polity; however unity exists on several fundamentals:
1. Bible is Final Authority
2. Church is flexible in accommodating a number of denominations.
3. Spiritual unity of believers, not visible unity.
4. Emphasis on doctrine

E. distinctives of church:
1. Priesthood of all believers
2. Church as a body
3. Priority of missions
4. Desire for purity of church compared to world
5. Recognition of spiritual unity.

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Social Action (Tidball)

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E. are unified in their social action evidenced by abolitionist movement, Lusanne Conference, and general approach to missions.

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Spirituality (Tidball)

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Different forms of E. spirituality have these in common: grace, assurance, holiness, the Bible, prayer, and obedience.

Means of Spirituality: spiritual disciplines and other methods.